Manjaro newly installed but doesn't boot

Support
1

Hi everyone,I’ve just installed manjaro 25.0.9 zetar on a laptop to replace windows. This laptop has already had a manjaro in dual boot mode in the past. This time i choose to completely remove windows.The installation finished properly.When i reboot i have nothing. No grub. the motherboard doesn’t lauch or mount anything even if manjaro is installed.I’m currently working on the live usb.Could you help me ?

lsblk -fa                                                      1 ✘ 
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL             UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0
     squash 4.0                                                                0   100% /run/miso/sfs/livefs
loop1
     squash 4.0                                                                0   100% /run/miso/sfs/mhwdfs
loop2
     squash 4.0                                                                0   100% /run/miso/sfs/desktopfs
loop3
     squash 4.0                                                                0   100% /run/miso/sfs/rootfs
loop4
                                                                                        
sda                                                                                     
├─sda1
│    vfat   FAT32                   D546-C6D7                                           
└─sda2
     btrfs                          f249ec14-5063-485b-b2b0-84fbc64a09d0  105,4G     4% /run/media/manjaro/f249ec14-5063-485b-b2b0-84fbc64a09d0
sdb  iso966 Jolie MANJARO_XFCE_2509 2025-10-03-06-13-11-00                     0   100% /run/miso/bootmnt
├─sdb1
│    iso966 Jolie MANJARO_XFCE_2509 2025-10-03-06-13-11-00                              
└─sdb2
     vfat   FAT12 MISO_EFI          5C33-A839                                           
sdc                                                                                     
└─sdc1
     ntfs                           33A5D566645BF14B                      356,9M    63% /run/media/manjaro/33A5D566645BF14B
sr0                                    

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda                                           ✔ 
Disk /dev/sda: 111,79 GiB, 120034123776 bytes, 234441648 sectors
Disk model: XrayDisk 120GB  
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: D54FEACD-89DD-40D1-AE0F-B28903774B1D

Device      Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1    4096    618495    614400   300M EFI System
/dev/sda2  618496 234441581 233823086 111,5G Linux filesystem


mhwd-kernel -li                                                  ✔ 
Currently running: 6.12.48-1-MANJARO (linux612)
The following kernels are installed in your system:
   * linux612
2

Try redoing the installation - but choose ext4 instead of the default btrfs.

And please provide your systeminfo

inxi -Fxxyzc0
1 Like
3

Hi !

Thank you.The install process doesn’t allow me to choose ext4 or btrfs.

inxi -Fxxyzc0                                                    ✔ 
System:
  Kernel: 6.12.48-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.48 wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM
    Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: PORTEGE R930 v: PT330E-0RT02VFR
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: Version 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: TOSHIBA model: PORTEGE R930 v: Version A0
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: PT330E UEFI: TOSHIBA v: Version 6.90
    date: 04/18/2017
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 6.1 Wh (100%) condition: 6.1/65.7 Wh (9.3%) volts: 10.85
    min: 10.8 model: G71C000BE310 serial: <filter> charging: status: full
    cycles: N/A
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-3230M bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2993 min/max: 1200/3200 cores: 1: 2993 2: 2993 3: 2993
    4: 2993 bogomips: 20761
  Flags-basic: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Toshiba driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-7 ports: active: LVDS-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3,
    HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3, VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0166
  Device-2: Sunplus Innovation TOSHIBA Web Camera - HD driver: uvcvideo
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1.3:4
    chip-ID: 1bcf:288e
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.18 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0 driver:
    X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915
    display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 size: N/A
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: crocus device: 1 drv: swrast gbm:
    drv: crocus surfaceless: drv: crocus x11: drv: crocus inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 4.2 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.2.3-arch1.2
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:0166
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings
    x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Toshiba
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1e20
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.48-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.8 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82579V Gigabit Network vendor: Toshiba driver: e1000e
    v: kernel port: 3080 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1503
  IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:0887
  IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Centrino Bluetooth Wireless Transceiver driver: btusb v: 0.8
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1.2:6 chip-ID: 8087:07da
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 171.89 GiB used: 5.33 GiB (3.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: XrayDisk model: 120GB size: 111.79 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Glide 3.0 size: 59.16 GiB
    type: USB rev: 2.1 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 serial: <filter>
  ID-3: /dev/sdc model: General USB Flash Disk size: 965 MiB type: USB
    rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 serial: <filter>
Partition:
  Message: No partition data found.
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 69.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 4080
Info:
  Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.65 GiB used: 4.53 GiB (59.2%)
  Processes: 259 Power: uptime: 1h 27m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1139 Compilers: N/A Shell: Zsh v: 5.9
    running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.39

Is it relevant to format the disk in ext4 via gparted from the live usb before reinstall Manjaro ?

4

Please try with 25.0.10 ISOs.

1 Like
5

I’m currently working on the live usb and i don’t have a solution to build another live usb to install another distribution.

Is it possible to install a distribution from a live usb of another one ?

6

If the new iso doesn’t fix it, yes, that is how you do it. Delete the btrfs, make ext4 with gparted from live cd, that run the installer.

1 Like
7

do i have to erase both root & EFI partitions before re formating ?

8

The installer most definitely offer a choice of root file system - it defaults to btrfs - but the combination of the default file system compression (zstd) and the compressed init (also zstd) may create issues on some systems.

See → [root tip] [recovery] Basic Manjaro Linux Rescue and Recovery for instructions to mount the btrfs layout and chroot into the system.

As you are using btrfs - to avoid the conflict between file system compression and init compression you may change the compression for the init to cat

Then re-build your init

mkinitpio -P

To reinstall the grub boot loader simply run the manjaro grub installer script

install-grub
4 Likes
9

The choice between ext4 and btrfs is available in Calamares (the Manjaro installer) – the default is btrfs – I can only presume you missed it.

No, though some prefer to wipe their disks in preparation, but it’s generally unnecessary as Calamares will apply the file system of your choice when the “Erase Disk” partitioning method is used.

This might be highly impractical even though possible – and you still need to download the updated ISO to create a new Installer USB (or burn it to DVD).

If you have access to another computer – a family member, a friend or co-worker – then you can produce a Manjaro installer on that computer (even if it’s Windows). I suggest creating a Ventoy USB.

2 Likes
11

I just reinstalled in ext4. It doesn’t boot.

12

Since there was Windows, perhaps Secure Boot is enabled?
It needs to be disabled.

3 Likes
13

As you are able to boot the live system - one thing we can rule out is secure boot.

You are also able to complete the installation process and from what you provided - at the installation - the system was started in EFI mode.

I am assuming that you got no error messages from the installer - especially in the last part where loader configuration is added to the firmware.

There may be several causes - which one it is - I have no idea

  1. check the firmware for invalid boot entries

Boot a live iso - follow the above linked instructions to prepare a recovery environment.

Then use the command line to list the boot entries know to the firmware

efibootmgr

You can remove invalid entries using the following format where XXXX is replaced with the number e.g. 0000 or 0001 derived from the listed entries - in the format Boot0000

efibootmgr -b XXXX -B

→ Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - ArchWiki

As you had Windows on the system last time - one could suspect the firmware is hardcoded to look for the Windows loader - in $esp/EFI/Microsoft/Boot - where $esp is the mounted efi system partition.

You can work around this - inside chroot - by creating the path

mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot
cp /boot/efi/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

exit chroot and reboot.

3 Likes
14

it is disabled

15 
efibootmgr                                                       ✔ 
BootCurrent: 0006
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0006,0000,0001,0005,0002
Boot0000* HDD/SSD	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1f,0x2)/Ata(0,0,0)
Boot0001* ODD	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1f,0x2)/Ata(0,1,0)
Boot0002* Réseau2	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x19,0x0)/MAC(b86b23b55473,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.0,0,DHCP,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0)
Boot0003* LAN1	BBS(128,p�,0x0)030000000000190000000000000002009b0000cf80000000410b00cfdb0000cf000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000500
Boot0004* USB MEM(FDD)	BBS(Floppy,,0x0)feff000000001d000000000000000c03000000000100000000000000200300e0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001000000000000001200
Boot0005* Réseau1	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x19,0x0)/MAC(b86b23b55473,0)/IPv6([::],0,Static,[::],[::],64)
Boot0006* Mémoire USB	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1d,0x0)/USB(0,0)
    ~  efibootmgr -b XXXX -B                                            ✔ 

Invalid bootnum valueXXXX
                       ^
    ~  mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot                         28 ✘ 
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/boot/efi’: Permission denied
    ~  sudo mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot                     1 ✘ 
    ~  cp /boot/efi/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
cp: cannot stat '/boot/efi/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi': No such file or directory

most of the command lines does not work - i did not understand which boot i have to remove in the -b XXXX -B command

16

Yes, sorry!
My logic unit was not online when I suggested this. :grin:
As @linux-aarhus said:

1 Like
17
1 Like
18

How can that be?
In chroot you are root and the command should have worked. :man_shrugging:
And for the same reason sudo is not needed in chroot.

19

Unless he didn’t chroot :slight_smile:

2 Likes
20

i’m not very sure about what i did…

sudo lsblk -o PATH,PTTYPE,PARTTYPE,FSTYPE,PARTTYPENAME           ✔ 
PATH       PTTYPE PARTTYPE                             FSTYPE PARTTYPENAME
/dev/loop0                                             squash 
/dev/loop1                                             squash 
/dev/loop2                                             squash 
/dev/loop3                                             squash 
/dev/sda   gpt                                                
/dev/sda1  gpt    c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b vfat   EFI System
/dev/sda2  gpt    0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 ext4   Linux filesystem
/dev/sdb   dos                                         iso966 
/dev/sdb1  dos    0x0                                  iso966 Empty
/dev/sdb2  dos    0xef                                 vfat   EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sr0                                                      

    ~  sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda                                         1 ✘ 
Disk /dev/sda: 111,79 GiB, 120034123776 bytes, 234441648 sectors
Disk model: XrayDisk 120GB  
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: C086F21E-787D-494C-B48C-6FA7EE24E343

Device      Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1    4096    618495    614400   300M EFI System
/dev/sda2  618496 234441581 233823086 111,5G Linux filesystem
    ~  su                                                               ✔ 
[manjaro manjaro]# pamac install manjaro-tools-base 
Synchronizing package databases...
Error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from manjaro.mirror.ac.za : The requested URL returned error: 410
Refreshing core.db...                                                           
Error: failed retrieving file 'extra.db' from manjaro.mirror.ac.za : The requested URL returned error: 410
Refreshing extra.db...                                                          
Error: failed retrieving file 'multilib.db' from manjaro.mirror.ac.za : The requested URL returned error: 410
Warning: too many errors from manjaro.mirror.ac.za, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
Refreshing multilib.db...                                                       
Preparing...                                                                    
Synchronizing package databases...
Error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from manjaro.mirror.ac.za : The requested URL returned error: 410
Error: failed retrieving file 'extra.db' from manjaro.mirror.ac.za : The requested URL returned error: 410
Error: failed retrieving file 'multilib.db' from manjaro.mirror.ac.za : The requested URL returned error: 410
Warning: too many errors from manjaro.mirror.ac.za, skipping for the remainder of this transaction
Warning: downgrading package manjaro-tools-base-git (r3054.14521ab-1 => r3045.7e49d96-1)
Resolving dependencies...
Checking inter-conflicts...

To downgrade (1):
  manjaro-tools-base-git  r3045.7e49d96-1  (r3054.14521ab-1)  extra  36,3 kB

Total download size: 36,3 kB
Total installed size: -311 bytes

Apply transaction ? [y/N] y
Error: failed retrieving file 'manjaro-tools-base-git-r3045.7e49d96-1-any.pkg.tar.zst' from manjaro.mirror.ac.za : The requested URL returned error: 410
Download of manjaro-tools-base-git (r3045.7e49d96-1) started                    
Download of manjaro-tools-base-git (r3045.7e49d96-1) finished                   
Checking keyring...                                                        [1/1]
Checking integrity...                                                      [1/1]
Loading packages files...                                                  [1/1]
Checking file conflicts...                                                 [1/1]
Checking available disk space...                                           [1/1]
==> skipping timeshift-autosnap because system is booted in Live CD mode...
Downgrading manjaro-tools-base-git (r3054.14521ab-1 -> r3045.7e49d96-1)... [1/1]
Downgrading manjaro-tools-base-git (r3054.14521ab-1 -> r3045.7e49d96-1)... [1/1]
Downgrading manjaro-tools-base-git (r3054.14521ab-1 -> r3045.7e49d96-1)... [1/1]
Downgrading manjaro-tools-base-git (r3054.14521ab-1 -> r3045.7e49d96-1)... [1/1]
Transaction successfully finished.
[manjaro manjaro]# manjaro-chroot -a 
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
==> Mounting (ManjaroLinux) [/dev/sda2]
 --> mount: [/mnt]
 --> mount: [/mnt/boot/efi]
[manjaro /]# root # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt 
bash: root: command not found
[manjaro /]# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt 
[manjaro /]# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt 
[manjaro /]# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi 
[manjaro /]# manjaro-chroot /mnt /bin/bash 
bash: manjaro-chroot: command not found
[manjaro /]# pacman -Syu grub 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
warning: grub-2:2.12.r382.gee789e1a-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (5) ffmpeg4.4-4.4.6-2  firefox-144.0-1  libmfx-23.2.2-5
             manjaro-release-25.0.10-1  grub-2:2.12.r382.gee789e1a-2

Total Download Size:    98.14 MiB
Total Installed Size:  330.02 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       26.74 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages...
 libmfx-23.2.2-5-...    56.9 KiB   234 KiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
 manjaro-release-...    16.9 KiB   281 KiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
 ffmpeg4.4-4.4.6-...     8.5 MiB  2.17 MiB/s 00:04 [######################] 100%
 grub-2:2.12.r382...    11.6 MiB  2.69 MiB/s 00:04 [######################] 100%
 firefox-144.0-1-...    78.0 MiB  5.45 MiB/s 00:14 [######################] 100%
 Total (5/5)            98.1 MiB  6.85 MiB/s 00:14 [######################] 100%
(5/5) checking keys in keyring                     [######################] 100%
(5/5) checking package integrity                   [######################] 100%
(5/5) loading package files                        [######################] 100%
(5/5) checking for file conflicts                  [######################] 100%
(5/5) checking available disk space                [######################] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/2) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf set to TRUE.
(2/2) Remove Firefox Distribution Settings
:: Processing package changes...
(1/5) reinstalling grub                            [######################] 100%
:: To use the new features provided in this GRUB update, it is recommended
   to install it to the MBR or UEFI. Due to potential configuration
   incompatibilities, it is advised to run both, installation and generation
   of configuration:
     # install-grub
     # update-grub
(2/5) installing libmfx                            [######################] 100%
(3/5) installing ffmpeg4.4                         [######################] 100%
Optional dependencies for ffmpeg4.4
    avisynthplus: AviSynthPlus support
    intel-media-sdk: Intel QuickSync support
    ladspa: LADSPA filters
    nvidia-utils: Nvidia NVDEC/NVENC support
(4/5) upgrading firefox                            [######################] 100%
(5/5) upgrading manjaro-release                    [######################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/6) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/6) Installing Grub to MBR/EFI
Grub will be installed on: EFI
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/amd-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
ERROR: mkdir /var/lock/dmraid
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Root filesystem isn't btrfs
If you think an error has occurred, please file a bug report at "https://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs"
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
done
Warning: GRUB bootloader at '/boot/efi/EFI/Manjaro' was updated.
Your booted entry 'Mémoire USB' is not the same as 'Manjaro'.
This may be a rescue ISO, but if not check your EFI boot priority.
(3/6) Copy Firefox Distribution Settings
(4/6) Updating icon theme caches...
(5/6) Updating the info directory file...
(6/6) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
[manjaro /]# grub-install --force --target=i386-pc --recheck --boot-directory=/boot /dev/sda 
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
Installation finished. No error reported.
[manjaro /]# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg 
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/manjaro/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/amd-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64.img
Found initrd fallback image: /boot/initramfs-6.12-x86_64-fallback.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
Root filesystem isn't btrfs
If you think an error has occurred, please file a bug report at "https://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs"
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
Found memtest86+ EFI image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.efi
done
21

chroot doesn’t work in commande line